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Around The League - 2024-25 Regular Season

Habsy said:
It's a nice town, you're being prejudice.
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I like Quebec City and I think that the return of the Nordiques would be the best thing to happen to the Habs since 1993. It's no secret that the Habs stopped trying to win as soon as they didn't have to compete with a provincial rival. But the math doesn't work for Quebec City. It will never work.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
I like Quebec City and I think that the return of the Nordiques would be the best thing to happen to the Habs since 1993. It's no secret that the Habs stopped trying to win as soon as they didn't have to compete with a provincial rival. But the math doesn't work for Quebec City. It will never work.
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I think the habs have taken for granted their market and fans. My son isn't even interested in the Habs, he hasn't seen them be competitive since he's been born. They need to be careful because there's a big generation of kids, and I see it when I am at the rink, that are fans of many other teams. Avs/Penguins/Bruins/Lightning. When I was growing up, everyone had a habs jersey, no one would wear anything but that.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
I like Quebec City and I think that the return of the Nordiques would be the best thing to happen to the Habs since 1993. It's no secret that the Habs stopped trying to win as soon as they didn't have to compete with a provincial rival. But the math doesn't work for Quebec City. It will never work.
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Mtl simply hasn’t been able to compete with US markets since players started getting significantly more autonomy post 1994-lockout.

That’s why the Gorton hire is so important, and hiring Madden Jr to take over Timmins’ role is also very important.

Habs only hope of becoming a steady NHL contender is to follow the Expos model and become the strongest amateur scouting & player development team in the NHL and that’s got nothing to do with Les Nordiques
 
lecoqsportif said:
The core of of SC winning teams have been built via the draft.

Col, Det, Pitt, LA, Chi, Bolts…
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All of them with top-5 elite talent drafted 10+ years ago - including TBay (Hedman + Stamkos)

No team that’s tanked to get a top-5 pick in the last 10-years has won a Cup
 
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Sal_Butera said:
I know but thought I’d add this thought that tanking for top-5 pick solves all hasn’t been working for over a decade
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Tanking has no guarantees , absolutely

But poor drafting and development guarantee what the Habs are now at some point

I would rather struggle with youth with upside than be saddled with aging vets and bad contracts like us and won nothing

Pathetic how Nero left the team a decade later in worse shape than he took over
 
Sal_Butera said:
Mtl simply hasn’t been able to compete with US markets since players started getting significantly more autonomy post 1994-lockout.

That’s why the Gorton hire is so important, and hiring Madden Jr to take over Timmins’ role is also very important.

Habs only hope of becoming a steady NHL contender is to follow the Expos model and become the strongest amateur scouting & player development team in the NHL and that’s got nothing to do with Les Nordiques
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No, after the Nords left for Denver the Habs stopped even trying to win. They started pinching pennies and cutting corners. They stopped being a serious business and became a clown car of incompetence. All they were good at was trading on the history and tradition of the brand for profit. That's why Corey was so hypersensitive to any player who, through their actions, brought the brand into any sort of disrepute. They tried to ride on the coattails of their own history rather than do the hard graft of maintaining a winning culture.
 
xposbrad said:
I think the habs have taken for granted their market and fans. My son isn't even interested in the Habs, he hasn't seen them be competitive since he's been born. They need to be careful because there's a big generation of kids, and I see it when I am at the rink, that are fans of many other teams. Avs/Penguins/Bruins/Lightning. When I was growing up, everyone had a habs jersey, no one would wear anything but that.
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This is the same phenomenon you see with the CFL. That league lost an entire generation of fans during the 80's and 90's and they've been playing catch-up ever since. That lost generation has now had kids of their own who themselves are now adults and they have no connection to or interest in the league. Nowadays you get college kids and old people in the stands. Nothing in between.
 
Tanking absolutely works*

*...If you can draft other players beyond those taken in the lottery.

Why has Deadmonton been shit for 15 years? Because outside of their lottery picks, they've picked virtually no NHLers.

Tanking will greatly help in getting you some elite talent, but you need to get hits elsewhere.
 
GGpX said:
Tanking absolutely works*

*...If you can draft other players beyond those taken in the lottery.

Why has Deadmonton been shit for 15 years? Because outside of their lottery picks, they've picked virtually no NHLers.

Tanking will greatly help in getting you some elite talent, but you need to get hits elsewhere.
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Yup , plus wise trading and possibly a UFA piece here and there
 
I don’t buy the Nordique’s departure or the desirable destination argument.

It’s about shit drafting and shit player development.

Tanking is also a red herring, we know it’s not often successful and it makes no difference if the organization sucks at drafting and development.
 
WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou said:
No, after the Nords left for Denver the Habs stopped even trying to win. They started pinching pennies and cutting corners. They stopped being a serious business and became a clown car of incompetence. All they were good at was trading on the history and tradition of the brand for profit. That's why Corey was so hypersensitive to any player who, through their actions, brought the brand into any sort of disrepute. They tried to ride on the coattails of their own history rather than do the hard graft of maintaining a winning culture.
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The Habs started pinching pennies in the mid-90s as did every CDN market except Toronto because $1.50 exchange rate combined with meteoric salary spike was killing their bottom line
 
I prefer what the Bruins have done to produce a winning team with a chance to win a Cup every year to tanking. It all came about from excellent drafting and talent identification (Bergeron, Marchand,Lucic,Thomas, Rask, Krejci etc.) while we were drafting the Corey Urquharts, David Fischers,etc. We can mock their 2015(?) draft all we want re who they selected with those three first rounders, but they get a pass from me because of what they put together before that. The poor 2015 and less in the way generally of talent development in recent years may catch up with them when those veterans all depart, like Detroit (and I hope it does because they are the Bruins), but its been a very successful decade+ for them with a very entertaining team with the odd off year. They have been riding that drafting for over a decade, without tanking. And despite giving Thornton away for next to nothing back then too.
 
east coast said:
I prefer what the Bruins have done to produce a winning team with a chance to win a Cup every year to tanking. It all came about from excellent drafting and talent identification (Bergeron, Marchand,Lucic,Thomas, Rask, Krejci etc.) while we were drafting the Corey Urquharts, David Fischers,etc. We can mock their 2015(?) draft all we want re who they selected with those three first rounders, but they get a pass from me because of what they put together before that. The poor 2015 and less in the way generally of talent development in recent years may catch up with them when those veterans all depart, like Detroit (and I hope it does because they are the Bruins), but its been a very successful decade+ for them with a very entertaining team with the odd off year. They have been riding that drafting for over a decade, without tanking. And despite giving Thornton away for next to nothing back then too.
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The thing is if you draft well and develop a contending core , you can stretch your contending/competitive window a near decade

Sharks , Ducks, Kings , Hawks, Bruins , TB , Pens all have been solid for many years with a few blips along the way
 
east coast said:
I prefer what the Bruins have done to produce a winning team with a chance to win a Cup every year to tanking. It all came about from excellent drafting and talent identification (Bergeron, Marchand,Lucic,Thomas, Rask, Krejci etc.) while we were drafting the Corey Urquharts, David Fischers,etc. We can mock their 2015(?) draft all we want re who they selected with those three first rounders, but they get a pass from me because of what they put together before that. The poor 2015 and less in the way generally of talent development in recent years may catch up with them when those veterans all depart, like Detroit (and I hope it does because they are the Bruins), but its been a very successful decade+ for them with a very entertaining team with the odd off year. They have been riding that drafting for over a decade, without tanking. And despite giving Thornton away for next to nothing back then too.
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We’ll have a better idea shortly after 10am tomorrow but I don’t think a full strip & rebuild is anywhere close to a given.

If history is any indication, w NYR Gorton did not force Lundqvist to accept to be traded and Kreider’s contract was extended.
 
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